Wrestling with Issues and Ideas in politics, the law, education, and other stuff.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Election Administrators Just Can't Win

Just when you thought election related litigation couldn't get any sillier, the ACLU steps up to do just that. The ACLU of OhioACLU asked a federal judge to block the March 4 Ohio primary in Cuyohoga County (Cleveland to me and you) if the county switches to paper ballots.

The lawsuit argued that the proposed paper-ballot system would violate voters' constitutional rights because it doesn't allow them to correct errors on ballots before they are cast.

"The evidence is overwhelming that when voters do not have access to technology that notifies them of ballot errors, many more ballots are left uncounted," said Meredith Bell-Platts, a voting-rights attorney with the ACLU.

So let's see, if I have all of this straight.

First, the ACLU and other didn't like machines to count ballots because the machines could be tampered with and therefore could disenfranchise voters. Second, we got machines that included a way for voters to make sure the machine accurately tabulated their votes. Third, for whatever reason (probably a lawsuit of some sort), Cuyohoga County has to revert to a paper ballot.

Now, the paper ballot is presumably filled out by a voter before submission. What the ACLU seems to be saying is that the average voter is too stupid to check for themselves to see if their ballot has any errors without a machine to tell them.

I'm sorry, but if that is the case, then we as a nation are in deep trouble when it comes to voting.

Oh, and if the ACLU wins and the county has to use the new computerized machines, you can bet that if something goes wrong the ACLU will sue again.

About Me

A husband, a father, a lawyer, a HUGE soccer fan and a guy who is pursuing happiness and sometimes catch it. I care about politics, but not so much that I would consider running for office, I care about education because I don't think we are doing a very good job on behalf of our kids. What else? When in doubt, you can find me playing or watching soccer, listening to music or reading.